1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved wire connector and particularly to a connector for quickly and easily connecting insulated electrical wires as well as other types of wires of more general utility without the use of any tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various connectors have been developed in the past for quickly connecting one or more wires to the connector upon the insertion of a wire into a cavity provided in the connector where the wire is gripped by gripping means provided in the cavity. Patents representative of the prior art relating to connectors of the aforesaid type include the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
Re.26,994 PA0 2,291,434 PA0 2,370,725 PA0 2,816,193 PA0 3,093,433 PA0 2,501,187 PA0 2,694,189 PA0 3,012,219 PA0 3,058,088 PA0 3,234,498 PA0 3,612,747 PA0 3,950,062
Each of the above patents disclose a connector which includes a cavity within the connector, an opening leading into the cavity and a wire gripping member secured within the cavity for engaging a wire inserted into the cavity through the opening. The wire gripping member is bendably secured to the connector inside the cavity and is normally inclined inwardly away from the opening into the cavity across the path of a wire being inserted through the opening into the cavity. The gripping member upon being struck by the inserted wire yieldably bends away from the path of the wire and as a result of its resiliency the gripping member maintains contact with the wire. Usually the gripping member has a sharp point or free edge which bites into the surface of the inserted wire upon an outward tug being applied to the wire after its insertion into the connector cavity.
The connectors disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,370,725 and 3,093,433 include gripping means which in addition to biting into the surface of the wire, crimp the wire upon the application of an outward tug upon the wire.
The present invention distinguished from the connectors disclosed in the aforesaid patents particularly with respect to the structure of the wire gripping member provided in the connector and with respect to means provided in the cavity of the connector for forcing an inserted wire into contact with the gripping means. The gripping member of the present invention includes a wedge-shaped slot having converging sharp edge portions for cutting the insulation surrounding an insulated wire and parallel blunt edge portions for gripping the wire after the insulation has been cut. The connector of this invention further includes cam means spaced inwardly from the gripping means relative to the opening in the connector for forcing a wire inserted into the connector cavity against the sharp edge of the wedge-shaped slot of the gripping means.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,816,193 discloses a wire gripping means having a wedge-shaped slot, however, it has no cam means for forcing the wire into the wedge-shaped slot of the gripping member.
Electrical connectors which have contact members provided with wedge-shaped slots into which electrical wires are forced are further disclosed by the following representative U.S. Pat. Nos.:
Except for having slotted wire contact members, the connectors disclosed by the latter group of patents listed above are quite distinct from the present invention, and they require substantially different manipulative steps inorder to make the wire connection.